Ben 10: The Boy Who Cried Ghost
by Blue Rhino
Summary: Ben is, as usual, messing around. But when Ben lies to get the hoverboard, what will happen when he really needs it? This is in episode design, no OCs! Set after Kevin 11.
1. Family Feud

"Ben, stop it, it's disgusting!"

"What are you _talking about,_ Gwen?"

"That thing with the hoverboard!"

"What? Oh, do you mean _this?_"

With a smirk even bigger than before, Ben pulled a small switch on the side of the device, which squirted out some strange sticky green goo that Gwen was already covered with. She shrieked and tried to dive, but the goo held strong, bonding her to the seat. She screamed some more as the gunk splattered all over her chest, dripping down to her legs before it stuck.

"BEN! You are SO gonna PAY for this!" Ben merely shrugged and sprayed his cousin with more goo. "I'll- I'll-"

"You'll what?"

"GRRRAAAAANNNNDDDPPAAAA!"

That wiped the smirk of Ben's face.

"GRANDPA, BEN'S SQUIRTING GOO AT ME AND I-"

"Shut up Gwen!" Ben fired a line of slime directly at Gwen mouth, preventing her from speaking anymore. Yet he wasn't quite fast enough, as Grandpa Max halted the RV and stomped back to where Ben sat. "Ben, what did you do?"

Trying as hard as he could to not burst out laughing, Ben turned towards Grandpa with his feet crossed and fingers laced on the table with an obvious look of "innocence". He changed from silly, mischievous Ben to an immaculate angel in about 2.1 seconds.

"What ever do you mean, Grandfather Max?" Ben said in a high-pitched, fake-saintly voice. He blinked several times to encourage the look of confusion. Gwen sat in utter disbelief, blinking at Ben's little charade.

Grandpa Max gave Ben an I-wasn't-born-yesterday look. He knew Ben. Besides, he was sitting across from Gwen who was covered in the same goo Stinkfly spat out. There wasn't exactly a line of suspects.

"Ben, be serious."

"I am!"

Grandpa Max stared daggers at Ben. "Ben…"

"Really!"

Grandpa sighed, shaking his head. "Are you _sure_ you don't want to change your answer?"

Ben was really confused now. "What? I was just goofing around…"

Grandpa Max sighed again and began pulling at Gwen wriggling body. "Here, help me get her up."

Ben leaped up and helped heave. They got a lot off of her arms and almost got Gwen off the chair, but ended up taking off more dried goo. When they got the mouth piece off, Gwen complained to Max about Ben's irresponsibility and how he should locked up in a cage and how he should grounded and…

"Please Grandpa, can't I glue her mouth shut? Just this once!" insisted Ben. "Then I'll never ever do it again! Puh-leeeeease…"

After a half an hour or so, Gwen was finally freed. She showered another half hour while Grandpa gave Ban a stern talking to about his powers and how he should- and _shouldn't_- use them.

"But I _didn't_ use my powers!" Ben started, "It's in the hov- er, I mean… uhh… actually…"

Gwen stepped out of the RV where Ben and Grandpa were sitting. "I hope your happy Ben," she snapped, "It _finally_ came out, but it took like 20 shampoo bottles!"

Ben rose slowly, as if deciding what to do, then stood and ran to his cousin.

"Hey, I'm sorry. Here, let's get in and… um… do something!" He seized her arms and shoved her all the way to the RV. He rammed her into the vehicle and almost made it to the back when Grandpa Max said, "Ben, give it here."

"Aw man!" Ben trudged to the front of the van, by the table where he and Gwen sat only an hour before. He sighed and ducked under the table. He appeared holding a large, flat, black, disk-like object in his hands. He sluggishly passed it to Max and marched to the back. Gwen passed by with a smirk and sat in the chair Ben had before, typing on her laptop.

"The only fun around here and Gwen's gotta go mess it up. What a dork." Ben began playing a video game to take his mind off things, and in hope the noises would bother Gwen.

* * *

Hey, guess what show I like nooooowww! I'll give you a hint...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ben Tennyson, Gwen, Max, or pretty much any character or thing in this story, just the story, thanks.

It's one of my famously short chapter! Woo! Read and Review please, thanks much.


	2. Camp Out

After several more hours of driving in silence, Max finally suggested they set up camp for the night in a nearby RV park. Gwen shrugged, stating she didn't really care. Ben simply ignored the offer, still slightly smoking about the hoverboard.

Gwen shimmied over on the seat, her eyes never leaving the computer screen. "Doofus, Grandpa asked you a question!"

Ben continued playing his game.

"Earth to Ben?"

Ben muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Don't speak dweeb."

Gwen twisted the laptop so she could see Ben clearly. "Oh, just great Ben. You've started to use the same comebacks again. Real original."

"Like you could think of anything better!" Ben replied angrily. "A freak like you probably looks yours up on the computer or something."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Even the lousy ones by a two-year-old are probably better than yours," she mumbled.

"What was that?" Ben said in a menacing tone.

"Nothing, nothing."

"You said something!"

"How would you know? What, have you got super-sonic hearing now?"

"It's better than having a dictionary instead of a brain!"

"So? That just makes me smarter!"

"Yeah, smarter alright. Smarter than dirt."

"Smarter than you, too!"

"You mean you _wish_ you were, right?"

The two bickered like that for quite some time, until Grandpa finally pulled into the RV park. He asked them to pause World War III long enough to help him set up camp. Ben and Gwen agreed to help, and spent the next half an hour jostling around, getting firewood and water. They roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for dinner (or in Gwen's case, tofu dogs and sugar-free mini marshmallows) and picked up the fight where they left off afterwards.

By the time Ben and Gwen were in hand-to-hand combat, Max proposed they go to sleep. "Maybe some rest will break up this fight," he said, although he knew it was a never-ending battle.

So the two snuggled into bed. Ben pulled up his covers yelling "Goodnight, dweeb."

Gwen didn't miss a beat. "Goodnight, freak."

Max smiled. "Goodnight you two, now go to sleep."

Gwen said something about Ben getting up and turning her into a werewolf, but Ben was already half dead to the world and didn't hear. He fell into a fitful slumber where he dreamed about losing control of the omnitrix, turning evil against his will, the aliens leaving it, and much more. He awoke in a cold sweat many times during the night, and was relieved to see the sun coming up on his last nightmare.

Ben got up and dressed in his usual outfit: a white T-shirt with black rimming on both the bottom of the sleeves and around the collar, with a thick stripe going vertically down his front. He zipped his olive green cargo pants and tugged on a pair of socks and shoes. Pulling a comb though his hair, Ben swiped a toaster pastry (with kelp-flavored filling, courtesy of his grandfather,) out of the cabinet and walked outside. He flung the comb onto the table before he left.

It was a nice day. The wind was blowing a gentle breeze; the sun was shining pleasantly down. There was a light dew on the grass of the RV park, untouched at this premature hour.

Ben spent a while knocking the water droplets off the grass. When that grew boring, he sat down and enjoyed the feel of early morning.

"It's pretty nice," he admitted. No Gwen, no Grandpa- just him and a field. A field…

Just him and a field. He was all alone… Ben jumped up. What was he doing, just lying around? He could be playing with the omnitrix! He dusted himself off and activated the watch. He cruised though the aliens, trying to pick just one. He settled on Grey Matter, which he didn't use much. As smart as he was, most fighting was done with strength. The last time he used Grey Matter was to deactivate two bounty hunts after the omnitrix. That was the day he got the hoverboard. Ben deactivated the watch. He stuck quietly into the RV, past Gwen and Grandpa, into the front of the van. He searched as noiselessly as possible. When he came out, Ben was holding a long, disk-like object with a grin bigger than Texas itself. 


	3. I'm So Board

Ben didn't know where to start. He supposed he should try opening it first, so he may ride it around a bit. It seemed like an easy task, but it was harder than it appeared. The gadget looked plain, but in fact it was covered in buttons, switches, and gauges. The hero experimented some before boredom sunk in.

"Come on you stupid thing!" Ben shouted in anger, not realizing he might wake up the RV-goers. He hurled the disk into a tree, where it landed flat. He stomped over to it, preparing to put it back up, when he noticed a large pad near the top. Suspiciously, he tapped the pad with his foot.

The disk turned into a board.

The oblong item divided into quarters, which proceeded to expand out to a reasonably large platform. Ben gawked as it light up. And he had been thinking of just putting it back!

The board beeped- it was ready. Ben sprung on, then waited. And waited. He didn't know how to fly it.

"Umm… fly?" he said feebly. "Go? Get on, little doggy?"

Nothing.

"Oh come on, just get going now!" He concentrated on moving, but nothing happened. _What am I doing wrong?_ He thought, trying to determine how to take to the air. Ben just couldn't decide what to do.

So he did everything.

Ben stood on the board, sat on the board, tapped the board, pushed some buttons, command the board to move in several languages (including some he didn't even know- he just guessed), and stomped on the board. He pulled the board, pushed the board, sung to the board, ask the board politely, threatened the board, stood on one leg on the board, begged the board, smacked the omnitrix on the board, wrote on the board, erased the board, begged the board some more, acted like he was working the board, jumped over the board, poked the board, and even tried skating on the board.

Not a single thing worked.

Ben grumbled as he plopped down onto the board. He had to confess, as tiring as it was, trying to make the board work was pretty fun. But now that he'd ran out of ideas, what next? All hope looked as if lost. Ben could've fallen asleep right there, with his mind drifting from thought to thought, eventually settling on the joy of flying, but something kept him awake. A jolt from under him forced him to grasp the bottom of the board as it tried to fly out from under him. He hung on as it bucked and kicked wildly. Ben almost screamed when it just stopped, falling down a few feet with a large _thud!_

Ben was in disbelief. "Did I just do that?" he asked aloud. When no one answered, he struggled to think of what he had done that made it fly. The last thought he had… it was about _flying._

Ben cautiously stepped back onto the hoverboard, preparing to slip and fall as it fled from under him. He focused on that one thought, the feeling he got when he was Stinkfly, or when he was Ghostfreak, the weird toss of his stomach, then the rush of adrenaline, the air surrounding him, no ground under his feet as he soared high above everything else…

Ben had closed his eyes without knowing and opened them slowly. He gasped- he was flying! He was really flying! The ground was only a few feet away, but he had still flown!

His triumph didn't last very long; he had lost the feel and fell to earth again. But when he got back up, he knew exactly what to do.

Ben stood on the board, and thought of when he was Stinkfly and how he would burst into the air, far above the ground…

The shock of take-off nearly knocked Ben off, but he quickly regained composure and continued to center in on that feel of flying very, very high. The board swiftly went up like an elevator with no walls or ceiling. Ben was doing pretty well, so he decided to go forward.

This was nothing like what the hoverboard had been doing. It shot off like a cork through the air, speeding past trees and car. Ben bent over and leaned back, determined not to fall off or throw up. Or both.

The zigzagging wasn't all so bad, when he got used to it. He easily twisted around, evading the trees with ease. But, as he looked up ahead, three cars were right in his way.

He couldn't go around them- too wide of a turn.

He couldn't go though them- too close.

He couldn't go above them- too many trees.

"Uh oh!" he managed to yell, frantically searching for a way out. He was closing in… about 10 miles… 5 miles… 1 mile… a few feet…

Then it came to him. He pulled into a huge arch, going vertical for a few seconds (surprisingly not falling off), and coming back up- a complete U-turn around. He sped though the forestry scenery, applauding his own accomplishment. Perhaps if Ben had been paying attention, he would have seen the familiar RV in front of him.


End file.
